Elderflowers in cornwall

I love the idea of wild food. My mission for the year is to make something to eat or drink from the hedgerows as the months change and as I walk Woody everyday it’s easy to notice as blossom changes to fruit. The elderflowers are quite beautiful; I picked about 30 fragrant heads and came home and dissolved 2lb of sugar in 6 pints of water and left to cool . Sliced 2 unwaxed lemons and oranges, added about a tablespoon of citric acid to the sugar syrup, bunged in the flower heads and gave it all a good stir. And leave it to infuse for a couple of days.

The smell in my kitchen is quite exotic and heady, beats Airwick any day of the week!

Comments

I love elderflowers and would like to be able to make my own cordial but I don't think any flowers picked in London would be very healthy! I love Cornwall and visit 2-3 times a year. We was there last month and was sad to see the frost damage.I look forward to more Cornish hedgrow recipes.

My Mum used to make cough medicine from elder flowers-didn't taste too good but it worked ! Also jam and elderberry wine from the berries.
Late summer we would be out blackberrying and picking bilberries for yet more jam and pies. Yum :))